Walaa Alyousif Synthesiss second draft ENGH-122 03/25/2014 The Worthy of College There are many values and

benefits of education for individuals and societies. Education has the most impact in the world; it fixes many problems in the entire world such as avoiding poverty, and enhancing personal cognitive. There are those who say that college degree is not a necessity to be rich, or to be educated. For example, Steve Jobs, who was the owner of the Apple Company, was also one of whom dropout out of college. Therefore, to be entrepreneur dose not required to have education certification. However in the other, there are those who say that a college degree is important to improve personal life and have enough money to live good life. Also, there are advantages and skills that students will gain during college that will benefit them in their educational and professional career. This essay will discuss the benefits of a college degree for individuals health, income, social life, and professional careers by using four articles. College degree effects personal health in many ways. It is true that having a bad study habits may harm the students health. For example, a lot of students study late at night, which makes them ineffective in their classes. However, the health rewards associated with having a college degree are more beneficial. According to Larry Singell, who is dean of the College of Arts and Science in the article Is a College Degree Worth the Cost? College graduates are less likely to be smokers, less likely to be overweight and more likely to exercise, so their healthcare costs are lower (Lilly, 2011, p11). This quote shows the importance of a college degree, and how it improves the personals health. Not only that but also a college degree can helps the world of having effective global communication by knowing different languages. According to Jamsheed Choksy who is a dean of the college of arts and sciences in Indiana University, in the article Is a College Degree Worth the Cost?, Think about this- higher education helps us have more people who speak foreign

language. Some of these people may be able to negotiate an agreement that will increase trade or prevent a war (Lilly, 2011. p3). So, as having education will increase the opportunity to have healthy life, it is also will help the world to be one unified family as well. As college degree affects personal income, it also affects the financial statues of a family, and the country economy as whole. There are those who say that college degree is not important as we think, because there are people who dropped out of school, and now they are famous and rich. According to Alex Williams who works at The New York Times in his article Saying No to College, Bill Gates dropped out of college. So did Michael Dell, so did Mr. Zuckerberg, who made the Forbes billionaires list at 23 (Williams, 2012. p3). This quote shows that the most famous richest people in the world are those who dropped out of college. Therefore, it argues that the college degree is not worth it. However, college degree helps in obtaining some skills that helps in rise individuals income more than the typical high schools income. There is a statistic from Pew Research Center in the article Is College Worth It? Estimated that the typical college graduates income per year is 1,420,000, and the typical high school graduates per year is 770,000. This statistic shows that the gap in the income between college graduates and high school graduates, and the disparity is almost the double. So, of course without a doubt, college is worth it. College degree also helps advancing an individuals social life, and the way students thinking. 15% of the jobs today did not exist before, so it is hard for students to prepare themselves for something do not exist yet. Because of that, students need to improve the way they think. According to Larry Singell in the article Is a College Degree Worth the Cost?, Its impossible to prepare for those types of jobs by going and getting a trade. What you need to do is to learn how to think logically, communicate, clearly, act creatively, and think ethically (Lilly, 2011. p2). The main idea of this quote is to show the importance of practicing logical thinking and applying tactical skills along with good education to ensure successful professional and educational careers. Furthermore, college degree gives students more socially involved and politically active compare with those who

are not having a college degree. According to Larry Singell in Is a College Degree Worth the Cost?, College graduates are also more likely to vote and volunteer. Also, Singell quoted Jefferson in the same article When people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government (Lilly, 2011. p3). These two quotes are obviously agreed that having higher education gives the person more involved and actively engaged as citizen than those are not having education certificate. Additionally, college degree can help the individuals to advance their career. As many of us know that more education the person will have the better job he or she will get, and the higher chance to be employed. Some people say that no need for education and knowledge to have a good job, and there are those who have a high position in government without a college degree. In reality, not all of the people have the same chance, and the same opportunity in having a gainful job without a higher education. That is to say that education is important, and everyone needs to improve his or her knowledge to increase the chance in obtaining a valuable job with high wages. A recent study by Paul Taylor (2011), Is College Worth It? In March 2010 the unemployment rate of persons without a bachelors degree was 11%. The comparable unemployment rate for persons with at least a bachelors degree was 5% (Taylor, 2011, p99). This study shows us the gap of unemployment between persons with education and persons without education. We can figure from this study the importance of education to be employed, and gain more money. Also, the higher education the person had the more money he or she will gain. According to Taylor The average 25- to 29- years old worker with at least a bachelors degree earned almost $50.000 per year. The 25- to 29-years-old who finished a high school education typically earned about $31.00. The average young worker with an associate degree earned about $37,500 (Taylor, 2011, p87). By all means, that college degree worth it, to have a good job, and to increase the persons wage. In conclusion, there are many different views in wither a college degree is worth it or not, and each sides have their evidence. From my perspective, even though there are some disadvantages of

having higher education, the advantages that associated with higher education, such as increasing individuals health, income, social life, and employment opportunity, are more impactful and beneficial for individual and the society as whole.

References Barnds, K. (2013, October, 18) Is College Worth it? The Answer Could be in the Worth Claim. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/w-kent-barnds/is-college-worth-it-thea_b_4122884.html Lilly, B. (2011). Is a College Degree Worth the Cost? The College Magazine, Arts and Sciences at Indiana University. Retrieved from http://college.indiana.edu/magazine/fall2011/cover.shtml Taylor, P. (2011, May 16). Is College Worth It? College presidents, Public Assess Value, Quality and Mission of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2011/05/higher-ed-report.pdf Williams, A. (2011, November 30). Saying No To College. The New York Times website. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/fashion/saying-no-to-college.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 .